


The Guardian

by Levi8



Series: Alpha and Theta [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chapter 4 is my pride and joy, Episode: s06e05 The Black Paladins, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Whump, Literally Canon Divergent, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Mind Manipulation, Mind Rape, Not Voltron: Legendary Defender Season/Series 07 Compliant, POV Pidge | Katie Holt, Panic Attacks, Pidge | Katie Holt Whump, Post Episode: s07e01 A Little Adventure, Post-Season/Series 06, Quantum Abyss (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Whump, Temporary Character Death, because
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-10-23 21:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17691485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levi8/pseuds/Levi8
Summary: Honerva in canon chose a more thorough plan. This Honerva opted for a quicker one.Shiro gets less than a day in his clones body before all hell breaks loose… Again. The Paladins are tired, they are vulnerable, and they have no idea how much time has passed. All Pidge knows is that Honerva found them, and now Keith is pinned to the floor in front of them nearly dead, and there's nothing any of them can do to stop it because Keiths memories render all of them unable to focus on the now before them.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This starts at the beginning of season 7 episode 2 then diverges drastically from there.

**Reality - Universe Prime**

When Honerva and Allura recreated all realities, they changed what they could in their own universe, the last one remaining of all universes. They rebuilt Altea, and Allura made sure that her friends... her family... Lance... She made sure they would all be taken care of. That they would be done right in their own time. But they still had their own choices to make, whether or not they would take what they had been given. 

When they were assured of the solidity of the last remaining reality, all the power, all of the destruction, they turned it on it's side. They rebuilt everything, and everything progressed just as it had from the beginning to the end... there was however one trait that they made sure of. One thing they made absolutely certain could never happen in another reality. The ability to destroy the multiverse was erased from the fabric of all existence.

**Reality - Universe Theta**

As a rule, Allura and Honerva did not intervene beyond sealing the realities to Honerva's Multiverse destroying machinations. There was one reality however, one reality they saw and agreed on that may not have ended in the possibility of the destruction of the multiverse, but something much worse. Honerva could not destroy realities, but she could merge them. This ability was still written within the confines of existence. It is not something either of them had considered. As the universe formed and the reality progressed and things changed... the more they stayed the same. They could not change the future without changing the past. So they did.

Keiths mother made a decision in the Quantum abyss that split one reality into just over forty probable realities. Sixteen realities resulted. Universe Prime and Universe Theta were among those realities. This is the only place that Allura and Honerva could intervene successfully. They made the decision, one that would ultimately only be used in Universe Theta... but this was the only way to protect them all. The only way to save those sixteen realities from becoming one reality, broken and fractured.

They summoned The Guardian. They explained. The Guardian smiled in agreement. This had already happened, for Allura, but it had not yet occurred for him. He took his new form, delighted in the irony. He would know sorrow, he would know kindness, he would know grief, he would know euphoria. But in Universe Theta... he would also know revenge.


	2. Oriande

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins are abducted. The Lions are MIA. Shiro is broken. Keith is almost dead. And to think, Honerva hasn't even started yet.

Pidge walked out of her Lion prepared to update everyone on the severe lack of things to be updated on. There's nothing out there. Absolutely nothing. Nothing, at least, within their sensor range. Sadly there were no space garbage piles available nearby to make another satellite dish for an extended sensor array. She still had her space garbage caterpillars though, so that was something, but not enough to, you know... actually build anything.

Pidge was halfway between her Lion and the center of the Lions circle, where everyone else was congregated when she was pushed head first into the ground. Even through the haze of unexpected pain she quickly realized that she hadn't been pushed to the ground, but that gravity had increased to a near bone shattering degree. She didn't even have time to panic about it really. Her face met ground and then there was nothing.

  
\---

  
She woke slowly, trying to do what Shiro… The first Shiro, had taught her when the nightmares started to get bad… Breathe, analyze, then act. Admittedly she didn't have much experience in the matter of waking up imprisoned, she generally seemed to avoid that quite well... but it was something she had practiced daily so when something like this did happen, she could follow a pre established routine.

Routine, as it turns out, doesn't make much difference when it comes to waking up on a metal floor with something resembling a migraine sans nausea.

"Pidge?" Allura was here.

"Is she up?" Lance was here.

"Oh thank Quiznack, she's moving." Hunk was here too.

"Can you hear us? That other Altean.... Romana.. Rollen… Romelle… Romelle was here.

"Give her a moment. Number 5 was on the outside and she's the smallest. The gravity beam hit her the hardest." Coran was here… Making no sense at all, she was the smallest yes, the gravity beam should have affected her the least… unless they had a variable acceleration output and increased it on the edges to prevent the Lions from blasting off… as if they could have after a fight like that. So variable acceleration output… that actually made sense, it was definitely new tech, but it made sense. Okay maybe Coran was making sense. That thought hurt almost as much as her head did.

"Ow." Pidge attempted to open her left eye only to find it distinctly unpleasant, so she kept that one closed. She opened her right eye without issue, realizing that her head was on Allura's lap.

"How did we miss a battle cruiser approaching on that tiny chunk of rock?" Pidge moaned.

"It was cloaked. None of us saw anything after we got hit except Romelle." Lance answered her staring at the cell door like she would often stare at an offending piece of coding that wouldn't stop bugging out.

"After the beam hit us, darts started hitting everyone from above."

"Tranquilizer darts," Hunk interjected. Which yeah, she could have figured that one out, but they didn't know how cognizant she currently was, so she couldn't blame him for clarifying. Romelle continued,

"They didn't hit me with anything, but after the beam lifted I could not move. There were several masked guards... Alean, that came to collect us. They ended up knocking me out with a dart anyway. They didn't even say anything." Pidge couldn't help but feel for the girl, to be ostracized simply because she saw what others refused to see. Likely viewed as a traitor because she wanted justice for her friends, her parents... her brother.

"Where are the others?" Pidge asked, fairly certain she didn't want to know the answer. Coran spoke,

"When I woke up Keith and his mother were still here. Allura and Romelle woke shortly after I did. The two were collected shortly thereafter, still unconscious."

"We tried to stop them but the witch came with the guards to collect them personally, she can apparently completely immobilize now." Allura added, whispering almost.

"And Shiro?" Pidge whispered in kind. Allura opened her mouth then shut it with a snap as the door opened. They just got him back. It wasn't fair, they just got Shiro back!

"Finally everyone is awake I see." Everyone moved in front of Allura and Pidge in a fraction of a second. Which honestly, she was really appreciative of at the moment.

"Haggar" Allura snarled, at which Pidge could not help but think, 'Note to self: Snarling Allura is scary Allura.' The boys and the Alteans were swept to the side and muted with her magic. Pidge could feel it in her own throat, a lock on her vocal cords.

No more human and Altean firewall between them from a very Altean sans chameleon effect Haggar. All Pidge had now was a lap between her head and the floor.

"Haggar is dead. I am Honerva"

"Honerva died of quintessence poisoning as much as Zarcon did." Allura spat back.

"Perhaps, but you raised the dead yourself, surely you see it is not an impossible feat." So muting did not apply to Allura at the moment. Allura clenched her fist on Pidges side.

"Where are they? Where have you taken them?" Honerva looked at her, a small smile gracing her features, it was… Hunnerving. If they lived through this, she'd have to remember that pun… Matt would love that pun, her Dad would too.

"That is why I am here. You will join us. They are waiting." With that she turned and everyone was let loose off the wall, but evidently still muted. She went to ask, only to find that the lock on her vocal chords was still firmly in place. Quiznacking Magic sucked. The sentries walked in and hauled them all out, not without a lot of struggling and short stint of mildly inconvenient vertigo for Pidge.

They all walked out of their hold and ordered in single file. Their hands were not bound nor were their legs, but Pidge couldn't move anything aside from walking forward so she doubted the others could either. Again with the Hunnerving.

Pidge was just behind Allura who was just behind Honerva. Allura walked tensely, she could imagine why. Pidge walked similarly because, well, a slightly lessening migraine, aching bones, Quiznacking Honerva, missing team members, a teleporting wolf… And Keith's mother. Which was still kind of a weird thought, but that was completely beside the point here.

Because the point right now was that the bright light coming from the open bay doors had Allura frantically fighting the sentries holding her. Okay, so maybe the whole not able to move aside from walking didn't apply to her either?

"Stop squirming princess, what's done is done. Everyone. Welcome to Oriande. The trials have been destroyed, so all are safe here. And the knowledge gathered is without restraint."

As they walked towards a large pyramid reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, Pidge couldn't help but notice all of the Alteans sneering at them. Seeing the one Altean that Keith and his mother brought back had been mind altering. Seeing so many with such disgust looking at them, Pidge couldn't really wrap her mind around it, she wondered how the others were doing with this.

Too soon they were walking through the entrance to the gigantic structure, the walls covered in a mix between Altean and some form of hieroglyph. Pidge noted along with the glowing caricatures and boarders there was also definitely an eerie atmosphere. On the positive side of things… Magic, because her migraine up and disappeared, as well as all her aches and all of her fatigue. On the notably very much less positive side of things was the sight that greeted them. Pidge didn't have long to really acknowledge the situation before they were all being dragged through the open hall to the over arch on the other side of the room... or floated over really, which was kind of cool but definitely worrying.

Honerva dropped them all without preamble all lined up, side by side, and on their knees. Which hurt... but she couldn't really process the hurt right now. Because such a minor thing paled in comparison to what was before all of them.

Pidge didn't want to look. It was nauseating, so instead she looked to her right, Allura's mouth hung open, gaping as her tears fell. Pidge looked to her left, Hunk had a face of stone. It was something he had learned to do sometimes, when he had to. He had learned to brave fear with courage and fierce will. Pidge would have to remember to take a page from his book, early Galran ideology from Lotor's Governess or not. Lance… He just looked lost, so very terribly lost. Coran wasn't in much better shape than Allura. Romelle was missing, likely being held by her own people.

Finally Pidge looked forward.

Shiro and Krolia were on there knees facing the entrance, facing them about five yards away just in front of the arch to what looked like a stairwell.

Shiro… Shiro looked shattered. There really wasn't another way to put it. It wasn't haunted, it wasn't empty, not distant, very much present, but gone all the same. Red eyes faced all of them. Krolia beside him had been crying as well. But she was still here... she still held a hope that Shiro clearly did not.

In between both groups… In between that five yard distance was Keith's wolf, facing away from them, the wolf muzzle on Keith's chest which was moving erratically. His breathing silent, but shallow.

Then there was what looked like broken off stalactite that had been shoved through Keith's stomach into the floor and a congealing pool of blood seeping out beneath him. There was so much blood. Keith… Keith should already be dead with that much blood on the ground. Katie felt her eyes swell with tears too.

"You took my husband from me. You left my son in the quintessence field. Now I will take the Comet from you, and we will all benefit. You might even get him back when we're done." Pidge… She really couldn't think, but she could always think… But not now. She couldn't comprehend what the witch was talking about.

"We have all the pieces now. we can begin again."

Black lightning meshed with the pool of red blood surrounding Keith. And then nothing made sense. Pidge could always make sense of things, even if they were half assed explanations or even just partial theories. Not even magic made sense in this context. She closed her eyes hoping that it would block what she was seeing, but it did nothing to help. So she kept her eyes closed and bowed her head, eyes leaking salt water, and just let a past she had no business knowing pass her by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a deep dive into Keith's memories. There are others who have done so very well. There's a reason I've got this in Pidge's POV... she is arguably the most level headed when it comes to just about anything not dealing with her family. She's the only one who can get us where we need to go without all of us going insane on the way there. Next chapter should be up within the week.


	3. Time Flies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honerva is hunting something down... she's making notes as she goes. Pidge does her best to ignore it all. She succeeds... for the most part, at least until the Quantum Abyss.

Honerva flew through the first decade of his life, Pidge couldn't see much, with how quickly it was going by. The first time it slowed down Keith was very young too quiznack young.

_"Keith, I'm so sorry."_

_"NO... No you're wrong, he's not dead! No, no, no, no..."_

_The boy fell into the fireman arms, and Pidge realized just how long Keith had been without a family._

"Confirm date and action" Honerva spoke in the distance.  
"Confirmed" Someone else, Pidge didn't know who.

Things sped up again. There was an orphanage, a couple of foster homes, nothing specific. If Pidge had wanted anything specific she probably could have picked up on it, but as it was, this was a gross invasion of privacy, like when Hunk had gone through her journal, but a million times worse. Pidge was going to do her best to see because she couldn't not see, but to not consume what she was seeing. Like reading a paragraph and not knowing what you read.

Try as she might though, whenever Honerva wanted to note something she slowed the memory stream down. It was far more difficult to ignore something so in your face in what seemed to be real time. She didn't really have a choice in the matter, but rather than just suffer through it, Pidge consciously made the choice to make note of what Honerva was, because if it was important to Honerva… There's a good chance it was going to be important to all of them.

Honerva slowed the memory stream down again.

_"Congratulations Keith! You passed the entrance exams with flying colors. You'll be getting an acceptance letter by the end of the week. If you don't get it, call me."_

_"I will."_

Why wouldn't he... unbidden Pidge thought of the first Harry Potter book. It was an old classic kid's series she had quite enjoyed before her studies had truly taken up most of her time. Suddenly she was very grateful that Keith had gotten out of wherever he had been and to Shiro for having the foresight just in case.

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

A year or two flew past them.

_" Liftoff in 3… 2… 1… Ignition"_

Katie remembered this… When she and her mother had watched her father and her brother take off for what they thought would be less than a year. It was family only and there were a few of her estranged cousins and her aunt and uncles. She had thought it strange that Shiro hadn't had anyone. There had been one older boy there that she didn't at least recognize from family photos though… She didn't realise it until much later, but that older boy had been Keith. She saw it again and noticed the smile and the tears. Keith didn't do much of either of those… Cry or smile.

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

Things flew forward again. When they slowed down it was to Keith and an officer having a... heated discussion in one of the offices at the garrison.

_"Keith carrying on just to spite the garrison isn't going to get you anywhere"_

_"So what? I should just give up? They've thrown everything they can at me to break me. I'm the best fucking pilot here but I'm digging too much and they want me gone. I told Shiro I'd still be here when he got back so that's what I'm..._

_"TAKASHI IS DEAD!" The man slammed his fist down on the table_

_"Adam, Takashi was dead to you the moment he chose Kerberos over you when you made him choose. Don't take that choice out on me." Adam looked quite affronted._

_"Keith this is madness, you need help and the Garrison doesn't have the kind of help you need."_

_"No one has the kind of help I need."_

_"One wrong move and they'll kick you out. Sign the papers Keith. Let him take care of you like you planned to take care of him if he came back on his last legs"_

Pidge balked, what the quiznack did that mean?

_"Why?"_

_"Because he was still my friend, and I made him a promise that if I was right, that I'd make sure you got taken care of." Keith sneered._

_"Funny that you only do this after you've already signed off on releasing his medical records." Adam just sighed,_

_"Better me, than you. They knew you never would anyway. Please Keith." Keith sat across from Adam at the table._

_"I can't believe he did this."_

_"Yes you can." Keith snorted, a couple of tear drops landing on his cheeks as he did so. He grabbed a pen and started signing a stack of papers._

_"Idiot."_

Pidge couldn't tell what he was signing, but she could see the pure hatred he put into the action, resigned at the same time.

Pidge gathered that this had been Shiro's Ex. She also remembered reading about Shiro's medical records... the one's she never brought up because Shiro hadn't. Pidge had been furious at the Garrison for putting Shiro in charge of the flight. She knew her Dad talked about him like he was the Atlas of pilot recruitment and piloting itself. She'd wondered if her father had known... if Matt had known. Because Matt talked him up quite a bit too. Clearly these two knew about it though... Adam had begged off responsibility... how would he have known that Keith was going to take care of Shiro though? What the hell was Keith signing?

If Pidge had been paying attention, she might know the answer to that, but this wasn't about digging into Keith's memories. She didn't belong here. She let the question go.

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

The next time it slowed and Keith was in a very different office, a bigger office.

_"Admiral Sanda, why am I here?"_

_"You are being expelled."_

_"On what grounds?"_

_"Expelling is the far more merciful option compared to alternative of accessory to attempted treason."_

_"What are you talking about!?"_

_"There was a girl here who hacking into our systems. You left the door wide open for her." Keith noticeably paused, thinking about it._

_"She was Matt's little sister, of course I let her in."_

_"She is a civilian child who attempted to commit a federal offense. Your things have been gathered from your room." Iverson handed Keith a bag which he then opened to check._

_"You missed something."_

_"The dagger was not standard issue nor was it made of any known metals. It has been confiscated for further study, your compensation is in your bag. You'll find it quite satisfactory I hope." Keith pulled out an envelope from the bag, clearly filled with a chunk of cash and threw it on the table._

_"It's the only thing I have left of my mother. It's not a dagger it's an heirloom. I'd like it back please."_

_"No." Keith grabbed a set of keys from the bag, threw them in his pocket, then dropped the bag on the floor._

_"Sorry Shiro,"_

_"What?" Iverson asked as Keith turned to him, then punched him in the eye. Iverson fell onto the wall and slid sideways. Keith dispatched the two escorts quickly in a similar manner. He grabbed and unloaded one of the guns on the nearest escort and threw it at the Admirals head before she could react. She fell to the floor as well. Keith really was quick... That couldn't have taken more than ten seconds._

Pidge couldn't help put look on in wonder at this. How did Keith know where to get his dagger back, how did he even get out after that? So many questions she didn't have a right to ask, let alone know enough to have.

Iverson still had both working eyes before that punch. This was likely after she had tried hacking in the first time. She hadn't gotten any info that time because the student network and the administration networks were completely disconnected. They didn't even have the same ISP... Now that she thought back to it, it had been Keith who let her in. She'd been so focused on everything else, she never bothered to thank whoever let her in... she had just been glad that she successfully tailgated through the front door.

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

_Keith walked into the caves covered with ancient drawings. His flashlight in his mouth as he took pictures of the drawings of the Blue Lion._

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

_Keith wretched, some distance from the caves, but still in the near vicinity. He collapsed. Clearly dehydrated._

_"I can't I can't, sorry… Sorry." The ground rumbled and there was a small stream of water gushing from a crack in the mountain where there hadn't been anything before. It splashed on Keith, expanding from a stream into a near waterfall, dragging his conscious from wherever it had been. He sat up gasping trying to get out from under the torrential downpour. He rolled, gasping for air, then diving back into the downpour getting his water bottle out and filling it to the brim and drinking contentedly. As it had begun, so it ended as there was another rumble and rocks fell into the gap where the water was coming from, bringing it to a trickle. He leaned his forehead against the rock face, getting mud all over his own._

_"Okay Shiro… Okay."_

Blue... Blue had been awake. Blue kept Keith busy. Blue probably saved his life. Had Blue known?

"Confirm date and action"  
"Confirmed"

From there it was all things she had either been there for, or had known about.

_They rescued Shiro._

"Note date and action" It was different this time. Not confirm, but note.  
"Noted"

_They left earth in Blue._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Keith getting red._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Keith in black defending Shiro…_

This... she hadn't known about this. It would have been after the first time they fought Zarcon. None of them had known it was that bad… None of them knew that Keith had already flown Black.

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

She fast forwarded through a lot after that. Seeming to focus in on just the Lions.

_They got into the cockpit of Black. Shiro was missing, just disappeared from within her. That or ejected between ramming his miraculously acquired Bayard into the console and them getting in Black._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Black accepting Keith as her next Paladin._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Black finding the clone._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Keith leaving for the blades after Black had allowed the clone to fly her._

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

_Keith meeting his mother for the first time._

Pidge couldn't help but see just how similar they were in how they acted, in how they handled things.

"Note date and action"  
"Noted"

And then she saw what must have been the Quantum Abyss. She saw them crash. There were more flashes of light and visions of things Pidge did her best not to really pay attention to. It was becoming increasingly difficult not to. She saw them jump on a space whale. She saw, but she did not consume... Until she didn't have a choice in the matter. Not that she didn't have a choice per say. She ran through equations and theories and her own memories, songs, places, people, technology, mentally taking a computer apart and reassembling it... she'd been doing these things as much as she could the entire time. But by the time Honerva really started paying attention, Pidge was nearly at wits end. Which as it turns out... was a really, really bad time to loose whatever wits she had left.

It really sucked, because the next vision Honerva slowed down for... Keith died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not a deep dive, but a little head canon sprinkled through. Though I'm quite fond of the one where the Retrieval Sim sets Keith off... I've seen that out there a couple times... but before I read those, I thought of something like this.
> 
> Next chapter get's us roughly halfway through I think. It also gets extremely... goryish.


	4. The Black Paladins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith dies... and then he dies again. Multiple times. Shiro dies multuple times too. Meanwhile the Quantum Abyss doesn't play by its own rules, not that it has anyin the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood, gore, dismemberment and a lot of deaths.
> 
> Listened to Brian Parkhursts' soundcloud "I will never give up on you" on repeat when i edited this.

Pidge would later be grateful for how much time she had to ignore what needed ignoring between things she had paid attention to. Because after Keith dies the first time... there is no break, there is no mercy, there is no time to even think, there is only pain after pain after pain.

\---

_Keith's raises his Bayard blade to meet Shiro's Galran arm. His arm feints high and Shiro slides his fist down the flat of the blade and impales Keith through his heart._

Keith dies.

The vision repeated, but differently.

_Keith raises his Bayard blade to meet Shiro's Galran arm. The sharp edge tore into the quintessence filled metal arm, slicing it down the middle knuckle to the elbow. With his forward momentum Shiro didn't stop. Though his arm faded from glowing fire to cooling metal, It still burned into Keith's helmet. Keith staggers back as Shiro staggers forward, still with such momentum that the lower edge of the Bayard blade sliced through Shiro's armor, nearly cutting himself in half as he leans into Keith._

Shiro dies.

Pidge can hear Krolia whispering to him.

"Move with him, not against."

It repeats.

_Keith raises his Bayard blade to meet Shiro's Galran arm. Shiro's fist meets the flat of the blade and the Bayard disappears as Keith flies backwards with the punch, and lands heavily on a platform below._

They both live.

The vision ended.

Keith looked shell shocked.

"What the quiznack was that? It's never... they don't...Shiro..."

"The abyss doesn't have rules. We've had glimpses of the past, some longer, some shorter. We've seen that area once before... I'm gathering you haven't yet been there?"

"No, I haven't. I'm guessing you haven't either?" Krolia nodded.

"If the fixed past is something we can see here, seeing an uncertain future is not outside the realm of possibilities. As you see the outcome, your decisions change as does what we are seeing."

"I still don't understand how I could hear you, or why Shiro and I would even be..." Keith paused mid sentence. 

"I spoke aloud. That's how you heard me Keith."

"Oh." He looks a bit chagrined.

"And we don't need the context to make sure you both get out of that fight alive if we're being granted this future sight... Speaking of, we'll need to make sure you can block like that without straining your wrists." Keith snorts, brows raised.

"I can."

"Humor me?"

"Why?" Krolia sighed as they began walking in the direction they had been headed earlier.

"He means everything to you Keith. I'll send myself to the emptiest parts of the universe if I don't do everything I can to make sure you both walk out of there alive." Keith is silent. 

A meteorite falls through the atmosphere of the space whale. They investigate. It's the space wolf.

"Note date and action. Extract space-time coordinates."  
"Noted"

\---

Shiro has what can only be a quintessence blade coming out of his arm. It's too translucent to be plasma.

_He swipes left and Keith swipes the quintessence blade with his luxite blade even further to his right and follows with a punch. Shiro parries bringing his blade down further and scraping the floor bringing it back to himself and then meeting Keith's arm in a block, wrap, lock and an upper cut before Keith can get his blade back in the mix._

_Keith's head shoots back._

Keith dies.

"Just before Shiro makes contact lift your chin."

_Keith's head shoots back and his helmet flies off. He jerks his head forward trying to regain his balance as he falls back out of Shiro's locked grip and right into the quintessence blade, severing Keith's spine._

Keith dies.

"Don't fight the motion you are making. You have to move with him."

  _Keith's head shoots back and his helmet flies off. Keith falls back with the motion unlocking him from Shiro's grip. He dodges under Shiro's arm to his left to avoid the swipe to his right._

Keith lives.

\---

_Keith is flying, Shiro on his back. Keith grabs a rope as he falls on it, breaking it. He grabs the one below it and it also breaks. They fall and they fall._

They both die.

_Keith is flying, Shiro on his back. Keith grabs a rope as he passes by it and Shiro grabs the rope under him. His plasma blade breaking it in two and he goes careening into the side of yet another platform. Shiro looses his grip and he falls._

Shiro dies.

_Keith is flying, Shiro on his back. Keith aims higher, grabbing the rope a little earlier, but with his other hand. He catches the rope but quickly looses his grip and barely manages to catch on with his other hand before he falls. He's dislocated his shoulder at some point. The quintessence blade impales him from below. Shiro having caught the rope below without it breaking._

Keith dies.

"I'll teach you how to relocate your shoulder one handed... you just need to make sure Shiro falls on that other platform."

_Keith is flying, Shiro on his back. Keith grabs a rope and Shiro grabs the rope under him, his plasma blade breaking it in two and he goes careening onto yet another platform. Keith swings his legs up to hold on to the rope and his blade. He let's go of the rope with his hand and uses his right arm to relocate his left shoulder. He readjust himself, cuts the rope and swings_.

They both live.

\---

_Keith slams into metal work and hits his head, a head hit one too many times leaving him dazed. Then he doesn't have a head._

Keith dies

_Keith slams into metal work, taking the brunt of the slam with his shoulder blades, pitching forward so his head doesn't slam back. He moves before Shiro's blade can make contact._

Keith lives.

\---

_Keith is flying again, his grabs the ledge with both hands, he dislocates both shoulders, he falls._

Keith dies.

_Keith is flying again, he grabs the ledge with both hands, he dislocates one shoulder and pulls himself up with the other. He crawls to his blade, dragging his left arm with him. He cant make it. Shiro lands in front of him and Keith tries pointlessly to turn over and grab his blade. He grabs it, he blocks Shiro, but the weight of Shiro's arms drive Keith's blade into his dislocated arm. Keith looses his grip. And the plasma blade swipes cleanly through Keith's right shoulder through his ribcage to his heart._

Keith dies.

"We'll make sure you can relocate your own shoulder more than once in quick succession. This one will be easier with a hard surface."

_Keith is flying again, he grabs the ledge with both hands, he dislocates one shoulder and pulls himself up with the other. He looses precious seconds as he quickly, and amazingly silently bangs his shoulder onto the floor and back into place. He crawls to his blade. He makes it. He grabs his blade and attempts to move it. Suddenly his arm is no longer attached, then neither is his head._

Keith dies.

"Don't reach for it immediately,"

_Keith is flying again, he grabs the ledge with both hands, he dislocates one shoulder and pulls himself up with the other. He looses precious seconds as he quickly, and amazingly silently bangs his shoulder onto the floor and back into place. He crawls to his blade. He almost makes it. He makes a show of giving up. Shiro lands in front of him. He can hear the plasma blade reemerging. He waits for the upswing, grabs his blade turns around and meets Shiro blade to blade once more._

\---

_They are where they left off. Keith screams as his face burns. He screams as he looses his eye. Then he looses half his head._

Keith dies.

_They are where they left off. Keith screams as his face burns. He screams as the blade burns through his nose and then looses half his head._

Keith dies.

_They are where the left off. Keith screams…_

_He screams and_

Keith dies.

_He screams and_

Keith dies.

_He screams and_

Keith dies.

It won't stop. Why won't it stop. Please stop. Please, Keith you both walked out alive, please. Pidge begs for it to stop... for Keith to stop dying. It stops eventually.

"We just… We'll train. We won't stop training. You need more strength, more muscle, more Galra. I will not loose you again."

\---

_"Shiro please, please Shiro."_

Keith Dies

_"Shiro please, you're my brother, please."_

Keith dies

_"Shiro, I love you."_

Keith gives up, then he dies.

_Shiro, you were my everything._

Keith dies

_Shiro, I forgive you._

Keith dies.

_Shiro,_

Keith gives up, then he dies.

_"Shiro, you're my brother, I love you."_

_Shiro falters and Keith's blade swings up with the suddenly unmatched force and Shiro's quintessence blade partially decapitates his own head over Keith._

Shiro dies

_"Shiro, you're my brother, I love you."_

_Shiro falters, Keith doesn't push back. Shiro presses on._

_"Just let go Keith. You don't have to fight anymore. By now the team's already gone. I saw to it myself."_

Keith dies

Again,

And again,

And again,

"STOP, PLEASE STOP. PLEASE… KEITH! Keith... please..." Shiro, their Shiro, the one without an arm, the one who led them as one cohesive unit from mess to family, is suddenly standing in front of Pidge, who is suddenly somewhat corporeal, same as the other paladins, same for Krolia and Koran. Shiro collapses, his one human arm banging against the memory of ground. Suddenly able to release what they'd all been too immobile for. He's gasping, shaking, sobbing. Pidge is shaking too, a hiccup, a sob, then ugly crying. She knows she should probably check on the rest of her family, but she can't. She cant move, until she can.

"Sh.… sh… Shiro?" He looks up to her, still sobbing, fist finally settled on the ground, his face a mess, hers is likely no better. Then she tackles him and cries harder. Other bodies join in this mess of a family pile. Pidge can feel her back getting wet from someone else's tears.

Right now, Pidge doesn't care if any of this makes sense or not. She doesn't care one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me?
> 
> Next chapter has warm fuzzies… sorta.
> 
> I don't know how many times I watched this damn episode to get the details, but it was a lot. It never stopped hurting either... maybe not as much as it did the first couple of times that I watched it, but it still hurts.


	5. Dreamscape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Allura go a little Deus ex Machina. Vulcans totally get the better deal. Everyone is mentally and emotionally exhausted. Not necessarily in that order.

Things were different now, it was incredibly strange. They were all physically on the space whale.… except there were two Krolias and two space wolves. She could tell there was two Krolias for sure, because one was standing in front of a burrow of some sort, her mouth definitely not moving, but she was definitely speaking. How she knew this when she was currently tucked under Shiro's chin and surrounded by the others, Pidge didn't know. But knowing how things worked was a little outside the realm of conceivability at the moment. She promised herself that she would return to normality soon... but there was a small nagging in the back of her brain... they were all still very much on Oriande, and not on a space whale. Normality was likely at least a few hours off. Pidge finally started paying attention, clearly mid conversation.

"Probably because that's not something he expected to hear. Not together like that anyway. Have you ever told him that?"

"No… Not in those words."

"Do you? Love him."

"I… There isn't another word for it."

"Hmm… And does he love you."

"You don't do what he's done for me without caring about them."

"Wrong word."

"I don't know… Not… Not like that."

"Not like a brother?"

"No… It... I think it would be... like a brother."

"And what do you know of love Keith."

"Dad, Shiro, You, I guess. I don't really know what it is, do I?"

"No. And I am so sorry for that Keith."

"I know Mom."

"Still, It's different for us."

"So I'm learn… Nggg. So glad i'm not a quiznacking Vulcan." 

"You're father was very fond of that analogy... though, we don't have to worry about the death part thankfully."

"Fuck" Pidge opened her eyes then, she'd never heard Keith legitimately swear.

"You know…"

"Nope. Nu uh. We already agreed no." Pidge did her best to not to process the number of possible things they could be referring to, as much as she had tried not to process anything else. 

"It's a very human perspective."

"Yes, I'll keep mine thank you."

"Along with your pain."

"You left me and dad for a couple of decades, you can deal with me being in pain for a couple of days." Krolia was silent after that, having moved beside herself, unaware of her future self. The wolf... one of the wolves was outside next to memory Krolia. Pidge released a breath of relief. 

"I'm so glad I was ignoring as much of this as possible. That was way TMI." Pidge stated, to which Shiro laughed out another sob.

"Agreed" Krolia noted, voice dripping with heavy sarcasm. She'd already lived this... this was a memory for her too, in a way. Pidge wondered if any of her fellow earthlings didn't know what they were talking about... and she figured that the Alteans might not have know classic sci-fi, but they probably were well aware of Galran… habbits, apparently? Honestly she'd think Galrans would be more like the Klingons, but she supposed that was the difference between "Sci-Fi" and real life.

"I fourth that statement." Hunk agreed with Pidge wholeheartedly.

"Fifthed." Lance next

"Sixthed" then Allura

"Seventhed… Just because it seems impolite not to do so."

"Gee thanks Coran."

The paladin pile fully dislodged in shock. Keith looking incredibly embarrassed. Which... yeah.

"Group hug?" Hunk asked

"Sure." Keith answered surprisingly. Pidge unapologetically jumped at Keith first from Shiro's lap. She was tiniest, she claimed first dibs on hug surface area and no one was arguing her unspoken claim.

The Paladin pile began anew sans, conspicuously so, Shiro and Krolia.

They dislodged eventually and Keith looked between Shiro and his Mother. Krolia was looking at him. Shiro was not, still on the ground where Pidge had left him. Keith looked at him sadly, but walked over to his mother.

The moment Keith was within grabbing distance Krolia moved to disarm him. Twisting him to the side and pulling her blade from his paladin suit, transforming it and leaving it under his chin. Before they had a chance to even cry out Krolia spoke.

"You lost your chance to be a mother to and walk with Lotor. I will not let you use memories of my son as a proxy." They all gaped at her, even Shiro was shocked out of his spiraling state.

"Oh child, who said anything about your son?"

Suddenly the Keith they had all been hugging morphed into Honerva. And Katie whimpered. She had just… She wanted to be sick. She felt sick… Nope she was definitely pulling a Hunk. Of course there was nothing in her dream stomach so it was just dry heaving. Not even any bile to relieve the need to expel whatever poison she had just hugged.

Mid heave Pidge became even more disoriented, falling forward on her knees. In the same way she knew there had been two Krolias and two wolves, she knew now that one moment they were all near the lived in burrow and the next moment, they had all been transported to a marked perimeter. And Krolia was… She was scratching away at thin air... thin air that was hard as stone if the chalkboard screeching was anything to go by. Honerva entered the burrow but she still spoke to them clearly.

"For what it's worth Blade, your half breed was only a means to an end, my curiosity got the better of me in the end. I built a perfect soldier who was beaten. It's validating to know that the Champion would have won had the Quantum Abyss not interfered."

Memory Krolia and the memory Wolf were going about as they had, but the second wolf,  their wolf, the one still in the burrow, that Wolf growled, then it whined, and Pidge was suddenly reminded of Bae Bae. Her focus found clarity in determination.

Pidge crawled the short distance to the invisible wall and tested the boundary out for herself. The others were talking, but she couldn't focus on them, not right now, she had to figure this out.

The wolf yelped, then yelped again. The third time was cut short mid yelp. And just like that her determination snapped and clarity disappeared. She still had her focus though, she was so busy focusing on the wall in front of her that she hadn't even noticed that she was hyperventilating.

Lance was in front of her asking her to breathe… In… Breathe… Out…

Breathe… In… Breathe… out…

Breathe… In… Breathe… out…

Not for the first time, Katie just really wanted to be in her mother's arms. Lance would have to do for now.

God she was tired. Katie was so, so, so tired.

When she calmed down enough, she didn't move from the hug, but she moved her head sideways to see the others. Coran was with Krolia. Allura and Hunk were with Shiro.

She didn't feel so bad then, when she saw the others. They were tired too. No rest for the wicked meant no rest for the good. They were all a wreck. Pidge accepted this in stride when she felt a nudge in her mind. A nudge she hadn't felt in what felt like years, but had probably only been a day. It wasn't anything solid, not like in the quintessence field, but it was a memory.

It was a memory, and a dream. Really, it was more or less a memory of a dream. Not something she could do, not in the real world, but this wasn't the real world was it?

Pidge slid to the ground, taking Lance with her. She touched the ground with her bare hands. She settled more.

Pidge had often called Ryner when time permitted and Ryner had explained a lot of things to Pidge that just made sense. One such thing was one of the reasons she was so intent on technology. Technology couldn't give off emotions. Ryner had said,

_"People who are more connected to the world around them feel more than most. It is often easier to remove oneself from emotions than it is to learn how to manage them. If you wish to cultivate your natural abilities, you will need to do that first."_

Pidge had never had time. She'd just kept on going, business as usual. She was currently paying for her own neglect very much right now, but this was a dream. It wasn't her dream, but it was still a dream. Pidge reached through the ground for the lives nearby, she looked for the darkest spot, and then she encased the legs in a vine, and dragged her out. She could hear the witch screeching. Pidge didn't know how to hold this, she didn't know how to do this… This wasnt even real, it was a dreamscape.

A silent nudge, another memory. This one a real memory. Pidge might not know how to manage, but Allura would.

"Allura, this is a dream. It is Keith's dream. Make it yours."

A second passed and the ground rumbled. Pidge opened her eye as Allura alchemied her way through trapping Honerva in a translucent blue tinged cage of some sort between themselves and the burrow. Pidge let the vines go and stood up. They were looking at her smiling, even Shiro had a small smile on his face. So much better than the shattered man. Maybe hearing the part before all the TMI had been what he needed after all. Krolia and Coran were the only one's still looking at the witch, as if taking an eye off of her would release her. Maybe it would.

"That was very smart thinking Pidge." Allura praised.

"Yeah no joke." Lance was still beside her. The others joined in with similar sentiments.

"Thanks." Pidge blushed a little, looking out at the cage Allura had created. "You too, Allura."  Allura looked at the cage again as well with a nod of acknowledgement. There was but a moment of silence.

"Hey is that thing sound proof?" Hunk asked.

"It is now." Allura replied, morphing the cage to be a translucent blue tinged box now. Hunk smirked,

"Good, because I have an idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appologize for the whiplash. Real Keith is in the next chapter. Promise.
> 
> Also... legit vote. Do you think Galrans are more Klingon, Ferengi, or Vulcan?


	6. Strings of Voltron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk pays too much attention for his own good. Lance out's Shiro's Voltron participation when he was dead. Allura finds the Lions... she also finds Keith. In that order.

Coran and Krolia kept their eye's on the witch as Hunk spoke in the nervous manner he used when brining up something he deemed likely to be ignored.

"So I uh… I was not ignoring stuff, it's a very bad habit. I'll apologize later, but remember when Haggar zapped the quintessence from Voltron when we were fighting Zarkon. Well Shiro pep talked us into powering up our Lions with you know… Will power and connecting to our Lions. Our lions are who knows where, but we know Zarkon tracked it down with Haggars help, and we know the Lions, or at least Red can act on their own, because... Keith. We happen to have a Haggar right over there, and an Allura right here. And maybe… Maybe since were all in the same mindscape... the Black Paladins mind scape, maybe we can track the Lions from here? Connect, and re power, form Voltron fly here and wipe this Witch out? Then we get control of ourselves back and we save Keith. Huh… Whaddya think? Super long shot, yes… Very much, but one thing at a time."

Everyone looked at him in stark surprise. Pidge spoke up first, because... well... her journal. Hunk had apologized long ago, but still.

"You know, I was really pissed when you went through my journal… Now I'm kind of glad you have the knack for being nosy." It was still a hell of a lot to unpack.

"Oh yeah, I'll be having nightmares for years along with the rest of you because of this, but your welcome."

"Definitely one thing at a time Hunk. First thing, I can still feel Red, tired, but still there. 

"Green too. I don't know if we could actually power up with our own quintessence when we are so far away."

"Blue's a bit more awake and thinks If I can follow each link from paladin to Lion I can remotely link quintessence threads."

"Yellow is very groggy, but... that link can maybe act like our Bayard's did when we fought that plasma virus on Olkarion, boost our life force and all?"

"Yes," Allura answered. "It will be difficult but we've done it before. We might not need to track Keith for this. Shiro, I know you weren't there when we did this, but we can walk you through it. Do you still have a connection to the Black Lion?"

"Actually he was there." Everyone looked at Lance, then at Shiro.

"Yeah, I was... I heard you all calling my name, took me a moment, but I did what needed to be done when the clone couldn't. But Black's not there any more. I think that is as much for me as it is for her." Pidge had to mentally check her internal task manager, because it was taking way to long to process the implications of that.

"Was it ever just the clone flying Black?" Pidge realized it probably was not the time, but...

"Black, yes. Voltron, no. I was always self aware in one form or another then."

"He was probably drawing on your quintessence when he didn't have enough on his own. He only had half of what you had, I always assumed it was from whatever Haggar had done to you during your second captivity, it never occurred to me that it could be something other. To be honest, I was surprised he could pilot Black at all, but Keith wasn't there... Your quintessence was likely compatible enough for Black to connect you if you had been willing." Shiro looked from the ground to Allura.

"You guys needed help, of course I was willing." Pidge had to swallow another lump forming in her throat. She'd cried enough. Allura sighed.

"It is theoretically possible that if all the Lions are being held in the same place then I could find the Black lion and trace it back to Keith, but it's likely that would only take me to his physical body. I'll do this one by one before I try to find him. I'll… I'll see if I can find and anchor myself to Blue first." She closed her eyes.

While they waited, Pidge watched Honerva pacing like a caged lion all her own. Krolia had calmed down considerably after the witch had been dragged out of their burrow. Krolia noticed her, turned slight, made brief eye contact, and mouthed "thank you." Pidge just smiled weakly in return and Krolia looked back over at Shiro who was clearly lost in thought. Hunk wasnt necessarily holding any of Shiro's weight, but Shiro wasn't _not_ leaning on Hunk. Lance was still a steady presence by Pidge's side, eyes carefully tracing Allura's face.

The two arms of Voltron stood at the ready as the two legs of Voltron held up what was once the head of it.

Allura's eyes shot open with hope.

"It worked. It worked!" She shouted.

"Hunk, you genius!" Lance grinned.

"Thank you, I do try." Hunk smirked.

"Lance, you next. Sit down for this"

"Alright!" Allura moved to sit behind him, her hands over his temples.

"Wait! Wait! This isn't going to turn my hair white is it?" Pidge punched his arm as Allura slapped the back of his head.

"Too soon?" He eyed Shiro, who was looking a little more alive, and definitely amused.

"You think." Pidge muttered.

"Okay, do your thing Allura."

More waiting. More caged lion now stalking more than pacing. Coran kept his vigil, Krolia joining him. Hunk remaining by Shiro. Lance opened his eyes, a strange red spark in them. Pidge thought she'd noticed something in Alluras eyes earlier, but her eyes were already so blue it was hard to tell.

"Sit Pidge." She did so and she closed her eyes.

_**"Green? Green are you there?"** Her mind felt a faint rumbling of confirmation. Suddenly she felt like she'd been jolted from her own consciousness. Like being in two places at once. Though, Pidge supposed it was actually three places at once._

_A green strand popped up in front of her, and so she followed it. The Lions were all out in one Galra hanger several systems away._

_**"Will this work?"** Green purred. **"Then may I see through your eyes Green?"** Then Pidge saw the hanger. The Galra stationed here were frantically trying to make sense of the activity. Blue's and Red's eyes already lit up as were her own. She could physically feel her life force bleeding into Green and Green bleeding back into herself as if there had been no exchange. A quintessence power loop?_

_**"Quintessence shared. Keep this link with you cubling. You can always follow me back here, and I can always find you."** _

_**"Thank you Green."** _

Pidge opened her eyes and Allura moved over behind Hunk who had already been sitting and the process began again. Hunk and Allura opened their eyes. Allura did indeed have a blue spark behind them and hunk's eyes now had a yellow spark. Pidge wondered what her eye's looked like with a green spark behind them.

"I couldn't touch Black. Shiro, you have the strongest tie to Keith. I can try Krolia, but..."

"Do what you need to find him Allura." Shiro closed his eyes as Allura shifted to sit behind Shiro. Krolia turned then, trusting Coran to keep his eyes on their adversary.

Allura did the same thing she had done to the others, only this time, Shiro started glowing. Then he disappeared... again. The other four Paladins followed him instinctually. Forward. Forward to where Keith's consciousness resided. Pidge still had the dreamscape sense of being corporeal where she had been on the space whale. She also had a spiritual sense of existing here, similar to how it had been when following the green strand to Green. Shiro however was here completely along with Keith.

Here was the edge of reality. Here was what was on the other side of the wormhole. Here is what Keith trained two years for. Here was what Keith survived and the clone had not, barely. Here was the clone factory.

Keith sat knees up, hugging them to himself as he faced the nine pods in front of him. All of them lit up. A copy of Shiro inside of them. Pidge looked around, gasping in horror. The others had very similar reactions. The numbers were insane... who needed this many. Why the hell had Haggar needed so many. WHY!?

Shiro walked up behind Keith, raising his one hand to Keith's shoulder.

"Keith?" Keith looked behind him to see the real Shiro behind him. A single tear following a pre existing tear track.

"Shiro." Another tear from the other eye. Shiro fell to his knees in front of Keith.

"I'm so sorry." Shiro's tears started back up again. Pidge briefly wondered what their faces back on Oriande looked like.

"Not your fault." Keith unwrapped his knees and moved to embrace Shiro under the red lights of the facility beginning to fall apart.

_"I'll remain to guide them back. They'll probably need a tick or two, I think."_

It was a dismissal. One Pidge took gladly. One less thing to be around that she'd need to ignore. One less nightmarish scenario staring her in the face.

The three paladins found their way back to their own bodies. They opened their eyes to a frantic Krolia and a visibly disturbed, but still vigilant Coran. Pidge wondered how such an enthusiastic quirky man had found such silence.

"Where did he go? Where did you all go? Please tell me you know where he is."

"He's talking to Keith, the real one this time." Lance answered her. "Allura's staying to bring them both here, but we all thought best to skedaddle while they talk over whatever they end up talking about." Krolias sigh of relief is tangible.

"Good… They're talking. That's... That's good." And so they continued to wait. Honerva hunnervingly silent, now sitting quietly, likely planning something. They'd have to beat her to the punch. They didn't have to wait very long.

Allura opened her eyes, Shiro popped up in the center of their uneven circle, Keith showing up right next to him. Their hands clasped together. Both of them calm and very much alive.

"Keith?"

"Mom."

Krolia strode forward with purpose and hugged her son fiercely. Keith tugged her in with one arm holding her close, the other hand still very much gripping Shiro's hand and definitely not letting go.

Allura hesitantly spoke up, having looked at Honerva, likely coming to the same conclusion that Pidge herself had... the caged witch was waiting for them.

"Keith. Krolia." They pulled away slowly. And Pidge really really wanted to hug the real Keith while he was still alive, but forming voltron, if they could, would be close enough.

Keith and Shiro sat down and Allura sat behind Keith preparing for one last run.

"Coran, Krolia." Krolia slid back next to Coran and turned to watch the witch as Coran turned.

"Don't worry princess, we'll let you know if anything changes here." And there was the Coran Pidge had been missing, the old kook.

As Allura helped Keith find his Lion the rest of the paladins arranged themselves in a circle, leaving a space for Allura and including Shiro by default, even if he wouldn't be making the trip with them.

When Keith opened his eyes, a violet spark behind purple eyes. Allura took her place  as Keith looked to Shiro.

"The honors?" And at last the once shattered man truly smiled.

"Be safe everyone." They all nodded. "Paladins, to your Lions."

Pidge made her way back to Green. The few remaining Galra in the hangar ranged anywhere between terrified and completely panicked. The Lions roared.

"Everyone sound off. Black here."

"Green here."

"Yellow here

"Blue here"

"Red three standing by."

Everyone laughed, except Pidge. Pidge didn't know if that was a reference to Coran's numbering system, or a reference to A New Hope.

"Lance, Biggs died you asshat! Revoke that call sign!" Pidge complained... because.

"Revoke the call sign Lance, go with Red five." Shiro spoke, it was distant, but they could all hear him.

"But Pidge is five!"

"I think you're actually four now."

"That doesn't make it better Keith. Lance, be Luke okay... Just deal with being the short one for a now." Pidge urged him.

"Wait... Luke was Red five?"

"Guys, really not the time." Shiro interjected.

"Okay... Red five standing by."

"Good." Keith snorted. "Now that we've settled that. Take off. I'll blast through the bay doors."

Without any warning Black moved swiftly, blasting a giant hole into the wall. They ran out in single file, racing off the moon they were on. They avoided the heavy incoming fire with ease. Keith and Hunk took out the two battleships nearby respectively. The other three followed on their heels. A minute away and they slowed, taking a moment of silence to gather themselves. Allura spoke,

"Keep one eye on the thread between you and your Lion, follow your other eye to where the thread between Lions meets." Pidge hadn't noticed before... but it was visible now... that somehow tangible link between one another that they all grasped for when they moved as one. They noticed then, that they were already in the Voltron mind link, even if Voltron itself had not been formed. They spoke aloud as one.

"Form Voltron!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still trying to find someplace to fit in a Riker joke for Shiro... but I finally got in my Red 3 joke for Lance, sue me (except you know... please don't). And no... he's not pulling a Biggs :P I promise. 
> 
> Next chapter we get Voltron...


	7. The Best Laid Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go as planned... until they don't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw creepy druid stuff… maybe?

Allura plugged the coordinates for Oriande in to Voltron. It was a bit further than expected... and by a bit... they didn't have vargas to make this work. They were back in real time.

The thing about Voltron is that it was made up of 12 parts. 5 Lions and the Lions shared consciousness of Voltron. 5 Paladins and the Paladins shared consciousness of Voltron.

With their brains physically being elsewhere, there was very little difference between the 5 Paladins and their shared consciousness. In the quintessence field they had felt power. Here, they felt everything. Keith didn't have to speak for everyone to focus on seeing themselves through Voltrons eyes. They heard echoes of Shiro's words in the consciousness of the Black Lion and knew it themselves. So they did.

_The witch was waiting for them. Six robeasts awaited them, one more half constructed. Only three were active. Romelle was being detained next to Keith's wolf. Though Romelle was held by metal bars, whereas the wolf was contained in a purple tinted glass box, very similar to the one Allura had created for Honerva in Keith's dreamscape._

_Ten Alteans accompanied Honerva in the room they were all being held in. The witch was moving about just fine, conferring with two of the Alteans as well as a datapad. She wasn't contained at all, never had been. The witch paused, glaring at the group, she said one word._

_"Mobilize."_

Voltron flew. Vargas became ticks. She had waited too long. Voltron would hit them before they had a chance to even move.

They slowed as they passed through the white hole to a slew of new robeasts. The flaming sword already formed… Without their bayards no less… They split two robeasts down in one fell swoop. They felled one other robeast in the next. The Alteans scattered as Voltron used a precise laser to cut away at the pyramid. They pulled the cut ceiling away  from where their physical bodies still knelt and threw it in to the distance. Those precious moments it took to remove the ceiling over their heads safely were a few ticks too many.

"Paladins! Shes... " That's the only warning they got from Coran before the dreamscape vanished and Voltron fell apart.  Black crashed into the ground as three more robeasts surrounded the remaining four active Lions, all six robeasts had been active as it turned out. The chunk of pyramid landed in the distance a tick thereafter.

They all heard the obscene squelching sound. The four Lions saw the witch raise the stalactite then drop it to the side with a wave of her hand. They did not abandon their mind link with their Lions, but they paid attention to the world around their bodies.

"Keep attacking and the Black Paladin dies. Cease hostilities and I will return him to you whole."

They'd had Keith with them. They knew he was dying on the floor in front of them. Still, it had not occurred to them, even having seen the witches mobility for themselves through Voltron, that she had been in complete control of Keith's Dreamscape. It had not occurred to them that she could so quickly break Keith off and use their physical bodies against them. It was a terrible oversight, but one that all of them had made.

As one, they set down the four Lions around where Black had crashed. All of their force fields overlapping to cover Black who hadn't put hers up yet… Hadn't moved at all.

Their consciousness came back to the real world rather than the dreamscape they had been in.

Keith hung in the air in front of Krolia now, surprisingly not in two pieces. The stalactite still covered in Keith's blood had not moved from where Honerva had dropped it, but Pidge noticed now that it was directly in font of Shiro.

"Good choice." Pidge looked at Keith, then at Honerva, then at Keith... she'd said... why wasn't she...

The congealed mess of blood began to ripple, the dried particles on the edge of the pool liquefied with the rest of it. It flowed in a nearly non-Newtonian fashion, peeling itself backwards to the stalactite. It thinned as it covered the entire surface area of it, making it completely red. She raised the rock in the air over Shiro, Keith's blood slowly dripping into his white hair.

That was completely unnecessary, and gross. What was the witch trying to do?

Pidge wanted to look away from what was in front of her, but the stalactite started contorting… it was like watching a jiffy pop, pop, but in reverse. It hadn't been made out of  rock, it had been metallic.

It broke into pieces and from the center came wisps of quintessence memory held in a hollowed out cylinder trying to escape their translucent prison. In horror, she watched as the metallic and bloody monstrosity broke down further in to metal shavings.

It covered the cylinder inside and out. Anyone who didn't know, would never think the casing was anything other than thick metal. It formed gears and joints and wires on the inside of the cylinder, and formed the external chassis and function points thereafter.

The stalactite formed back into Shiro's Galran arm.

It floated down, now completely covered in Keith's blood on probably a molecular level, over to Shiro's immobile self. Unable to move away, unable to scream, unable to do anything. The witch reattached the arm, the metal extensions that had grown into Shiros shoulder lit up with the rest of the arm, glowing… Bloody and burning. Shiro's eyes were full of fear, she'd never seen Shiro so openly afraid. Pidge thought her eyes might look the same, maybe revulsion trumped fear right now.

The arm stopped glowing and snapped in place with a final click.

Keith dropped to the floor in front of his mother.

Krolia, if she could have moved, likely would have gone feral on the witch. Madness and sorrow. Pidge stared at the body in front of them. The tears flowed over her eye lids. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream, but she could still cry. It wasn't really crying, just the tears. For now that would have to be enough for her grief because no other outlet was available to her.

"Mission complete, bathed in the blood of our enemies, Champion seven and eight. The spare is dead by your hand. Congratulations!"

Pidge's blurry eyesight jumped from Keith to Shiro who had tears of his own falling down his face. He was looking at Keith in grief and fear. It took a tick, but as the meaning settled, his grief morphed into panic. He was terrified. Pidge didn't know what to do with that. She didn't know what to do with any of it, because now Pidge understood…. now they all understood.

_"Champion seven and eight."_

_"I'll return the Black Paladin to you whole."_

Voltron saw red. The four standing Lions roared. The man who would be Shiro shattered once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He doesn't stay dead... I promise.
> 
> I'm sorry.
> 
> This wasn't supposed to happen like this. Actually, theirs a lot coming that wasn't supposed to happen. This chapter was supposed to end very differently. This was supposed to end next chapter (spoilers, It won't) I had a very clear outline. Sometimes I wonder why I bother making one when I can never follow it.
> 
> Hoping to have the next chapter up by tomorrow.


	8. Broken Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honerva expositions and Pidge may or may not die while throwing a Hail Mary... but like all things VLD, she doesn't stay dead... if she did in fact die in the first place. She'll have to ask Green later.

Pidge mentally clawed at the strengthened link between Green and herself. Focused or not she had to do something. Green had just roared, they all had, except Black. They were awake, except Black. So why couldn't she just...

She took a deep breath.

Green was keeping her at bay... not a word, not even a hint of reassurance. Green was there, in her mind, not gone... but stilled. Stilled, but with purpose. Pidge settled with that thought. She turned outward again, trusting Green that now was not the time for action, no matter how much it seemed like it should be.

The witch walked up to Shiro blocking his view of Keith, the terror had not abated. She took his chin in her hand and proceeded to demand answers.

"Still, I wonder, how the Black Lion kept half of you from returning to me on your death. It should have been all or nothing. Champion 7 died half a man and Champion 8 suffered for it's intervention. Now the two are one.

"Tell me Champion, how did you notice something different about yourself this time? None of your others ever did." The shattered man kept his mouth shut.

"You can speak now." The silent shards of terror formed back into grief and then began reforming into rage. Broken and silent rage. Pidge began to wonder if that was the face of the so acclaimed Champion. It was frightening.

"You killed him." He spat… Surprisingly, Honerva answered.

"It was your hand, but if you need to see it that way, you may. Now how did you know something was wrong my Champion?" Shiro was silent for a few moments. Honerva nodded once at nothing.

"When did he die?" Shiro whispered, his voice cracking. Honerva smiled, answering softly and reassuringly, as if to a child.

"You never died my Champion. Your bodies failed on the table or on your way out of battle, yes. But you never died. Your arm was a gift, it was also insurance. Your quintessence would be drained when the arm sensed systemic failure. If the arm was damaged or not retrievable for a direct transfer then your quintessence would be released from the arm to me as long as I was nearby. I would transfer it to your next queued replacement body and your memories would be extracted from your quintessence and placed in a new arm for your new brain to download. You have those memories back now. You won't fade... You are whole again."

"But why... why me?" The grief was back, still second to rage, but very much present.

"You were cannon fodder for Myzax. A warm up. But you broke rank, you saved your friend from the arena, demanding to die first. You didn't die at all. You wouldn't die. You refused. You became a favorite very quickly, you brought in more profit to the arena than it had seen in over a millennia. We resurrected the Gladiator Cloning facility. With such popularity we wanted to use you as long as we could. If your body ever did fail during a fight, I could make sure that the masses were none the wiser.

"We began the cloning process only to find you had a defect that would leave you useless to us in a short amount of time. Project Kuron was created to remedy that defect, which we did, after many, many, many failures."

"Business then." Shiro choked out.

"Yes initially, just business. But when it became evident that you were winning against the reigning gladiators with quickly made assessments applied to practical strategy and not just through unsurpassed survival instinct, Zarkon took note. Project Kuron then became a great deal more.

"Once I perfected your DNA, one of you was enough to level several battleships worth of sentries without flagging. As much as I wish we could have had more than one of you at a time, i could never replicate the content of your quintessence. I could never create more than one active super soldier at a time, and because of that, Project Kuron was ultimately considered a failure. You still managed to rake in more viewership every time you were in an arena match, so it was far from a complete loss.

"Each body lasted longer than the previous in the arena though. We went so far as to catch creatures that you should never have been able to take down on your own. But take them down you did. Sometimes it was too much for the body after the fact, never during a fight, always after. When your body failed a sixth time, Ulaz intervened and deactivated most of the internal coding in the arm as you awoke for the seventh. There was no one to deactivate anything when you woke for the eighth. 

"You were born for entertainment, groomed for war, kept for greed, and eventually used for espionage. You are the greatest living weapon I have ever created."

Honerva… She seemed smarter than this, smarter than pulling a villainous monologue with her full plan before them, at least her full plan for Shrio. So what was this all. Why the blood, why these universe forsaken answers. Why weren't they all dead yet?

Shiro didn't say anything else leaving her question unanswered for as many questions as she had answered of his. With a demeaning pat on his head, Honerva turned her head away from him, and looked directly at Pidge.

"This isn't a monologue Pidge Gunderson." Pidge snapped her eyes from Shiro's now blank stare to Honerva. "This is compassion for a broken weapon that i put so much time into. A broken weapon that needs nurture, and care. One that needs fixing. One that needed to complete its task and understand its purpose before it could begin to heal."

Aaaaand now she was telepathic… Shiro probably had answered her without knowing it... Mentally. But that sort of ability wasn't something you just gave away as having with an offhanded comment. Surely the others had questions too, why give up the secret of telepathy to answer her?

Honerva moved from Shiro over to Pidge who very much wished to move away.

_Try not to think, try not to think, try not to think._

"I answer, because in a varga, none of this will matter. I answer you, because you are the only one thinking of me by my given name. You know the importance of differentiating yourself between a given name and an assumed name. The others do not, nor do they currently have the presence of mind to still be inquisitive."

_If we only have a varga, let us go. Let us bury him._

"In a varga, he'll have never left, none of them will."

Honerva walked behind them all, back towards the entrance. Back towards her caged prize.

Green's stillness became static.

Pidge closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then another. One more for good measure.

_Keith, I'm so sorry._

Pidge became Green and Green moved quickly with one thing in mind. Free the wolf, and hope it was as smart as it seemed. Green jumped and slid through such a tight space between the idle robeasts, and in such a short amount of time, that even Red was impressed.

The magic glass box gave way easily under the jaws of the giant Lion. The wolf teleported away. Before Green could make another move, something hit Green in the back, immobilizing her, draining her. Green collapsed. If Pidge hadn't been immobile, she'd have collapsed too.

\--- 

"Katie… Katie!... Come on Katie... KATIE!" The cadence of the words were familiar even though the voice itself was not.

Pidge was on her back and she opened her eyes to see an echo of the Black Lions consciousness that she'd seen in Keith's memories when they had formed Voltron. She sat up with a gasp.

"Where am I?" She asked, already knowing the answer, but needing to ask it anyway. Red, Yellow, and Blue stood in front of her.

"Voltron." Pidge snapped her head to the left at the familiar voice. He was sitting right next to her, Black several strides away from him.

"Keith!" She scrambled up, and lurched towards him. She stalled before she moved much, her brain catching up to reality. Death was an inevitability in war... she just never thought about there being anything after it. Even knowing Black had kept Shiro for as long as she had... Her mouth caught up to her brain as Keith eyed her warily.

"Oh... I'm dead too? Do we all end up here?" Keith grimaced but stood up next to her,

"You're not dead Pidge... well, not exactly." She was still frozen and Keith actually initiating a hug. Was this really Keith this time?

"What about you?" She asked, hope already taking root where it should not. He let go, holding her at arms length. "For the moment."

"Not for very long though. Green needs you right now though Katie." It was the same voice calling to her earlier. Keith dropped his arms as she turned to look at the wherever the voice was coming from. In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

"Holy Quiznack! You can talk!?" The wolf looked up at her, smiling in the way that only dogs can.

"Is it still talking if i'm not moving my mouth?" His tongue lolled out of his mouth, panting.

"Oh, more telepathy. Great."

"More telepathy?" Pidge shrunk away from Keith as much as his question. They hadn't heard it, they didn't know.

"Yeah, Honerva has a link into our brains... or did anyway."

"You guys can talk later, Green needs you and more importantly you need Green." Pidge looked at the wolf, then back at Keith, torn.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a couple of dobashes. Just need to do some uh..."

"Neurological sorting and quintessence realignment." The wolf finished for him. Pidge raised an eyebrow.

"Right... Well, you had better be back soon, because I'll be damned if I'm the one who has to tell Shiro you're stuck in here now with no extra body double hanging around." Keith opened his mouth, clearly wanting to say something, but he hesitated. Pidge prodded him,

"Keith?"

"How is he?" She sighed. Of course he would ask that. Blunt, she'd be blunt.

"Not good. He's going to need you after this. But that's nothing new." Keith reddened and she paused, then pressed on, "He'll need all of us after this I think, to be honest. Did you hear anything… Did you hear what she said… to Shiro?" It was a stupid question, because of course he hadn't. The wolf spoke again,

"I'll fill him in on the gory details of quintessence transference. Now shoo, we've work to do and not a lot of time to do it... you've just got to survive a couple more dobashes before we get all of you free. So don't freak out when we pull Lazarus 2.0. The only one dying today is Haggar."

"We?" Pidge asked,

"Shoo!" She looked back at the wolf behind her to see Green materializing a few strides away. She looked back at Keith again, not really wanting to go back without him, but Keith nodded at her, a thin smile on his face.

"Just keep breathing Pidge."

"I will."

She was skeptical, but moderately appeased despite the perturbing notion that she was going back half dead. Pidge stole another quick hug from Keith and ran the small distance over to Green. She placed her hand on Green's snout and followed the green thread back to quintessence shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As my headcanon formed on how long Project Kuron had been going on and what it may have been... i had Cutler Beckett in the back of my brain saying, "It's just good business."


	9. Broken Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge doesn't die, there's a lot of blood involved though. The Lion freezes time. Keith Wakes up. The Wolf expositions and get's his name back.
> 
> No one signed up for any of this... except the author... I did, in fact, apparently, sign up for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw more blood.

Pidge blinked back to reality, disoriented and very drained.

"You fool! I need them alive!" Honerva yelled.

Pidge looked down, because she could apparently move her head now.

"You killed the Black Paladin?" It came like a question from an Altean right behind her.

There was a giant spear coming out of her chest.

_Not exactly dead, huh?_

She felt liquid falling out of her mouth and she saw red drip to the floor in front of her nearly hitting her cuisses. She tasted the iron then. Maybe she was still in the process of dying?

"One of two Black Paladins, I still need one of each alive!"

Pidge was still very much dazed, and Honerva was suddenly sitting before her.

"Come back little one. You all need to be alive to save Keith. You can't give up on your family now can you."

Pidge tried to say no, but she coughed up blood instead. The sensation was beyond strange. There should probably have been more pain, probably more panic too. But Green held her close, it didn't seem so bad with Green there. Maybe she could become a part of Green too.

_Not exactly dead, he said. Just keep breathing Pidge, he said. I will, I said._

If there was ever a next time, she was definitely asking for more details.

Pidge suddenly felt the weight of the rest of the spear as it suddenly angled up, the end clacking on the ground behind her. She choked as more blood spilled out of her mouth, some landing on the floor in front of her, some falling down her chin, some spattering on the witch in front of her. She couldn't breathe.

Honerva dragged The Altean who had been behind her between her and Allura. Without warning black lighting hit the Altean and he screeched. Pidge had only a moment to understand that the hand Haggar extended to her would hit her with lightning as well.

If she'd had any breath in her lungs, she would have screamed. Instead she just coughed up more blood, her face probably contorting in strange ways. 

As soon as it began it stopped. Pidges eyes were blurry, but she looked at the open sky having thrown her head back at some point. She could breathe again. She leaned her head forward to see the witch hanging in the air, trying to grasp an invisible choke hold. The Altean in front of her that had looked so young, now looked quite old and wrinkled, but still alive and gasping for air.

She had one moment to take this in before a gust of wind blew out from the inner sanctum of the pyramid. The gust quickly became a nonstop gale. The Alteans frozen from shock in Pidge's line of sight quickly lost their footing and flew backwards like a kite. The altean in front flew back between Allura and herself. Pidge turned her head to watch the Altean pass her by to see that Allura had already had her head turned. Allura paid no mind to the wind that affected none of them, or the Altean that flew past them. Allura was solely fixed on Pidge's face. It occured to her briefly, that the tears on her face may not have just been for Keith and Shiro, but perhaps they were for her as well.

Whoops.

Pidge tried to smile reassuringly, but given she could feel blood drying on her face it was probably the furthest thing from.

The doors behind them slammed shut as the Lions above them roared. Another singular roar echoed them from within the pyramid. Honerva still hanging in the air, but very much still awake, finally stopped struggling. The gale ended.

The White Lion walked up the stairs behind Krolia and Shiro, both of whom looked more shell shocked than anything else at the moment. Keith's wolf flashed into existence beside his body and the White Lion moved to stand beside the wolf, blocking Pidge's line of sight.

Pidge grunted as she felt the rest of the spear being dragged out of her from the front. It flung from her body to the White Lion but didn't come any where near landing. It hung in the air like Honerva, who started struggling again. The White Lion turned it's head to Honerva, a very distinct snarl on it's face. Pidge could feel the blood start to flow again.

Green was suddenly gone, the barrier between herself and the pain and the panic was gone. She screamed before her eyesight started to fade. Then nothing... at least for a little bit.

**Cubling. Wake up.**

_Breathe, analyze, then act._

She breathed, she hadn't moved. She opened her eyes, looking down. Her armor looked as if there had never been any damage, she didn't even feel any blood on her face. The only way to tell that there had been any blood was that her own blood coated the inside of her mouth. She gathered her bloody saliva and prepared to spit on the witch, because she really didn't have much else she could do at the moment, but when she looked up Keith had gotten to the witch first.

Keith was alive. He said he would be, but being told that and seeing it, were two very different things. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Pidge felt true hope bloom in her heart.

Keith, was currently in a similar state as Pidge, his armor was whole without a drop of blood on it. You couldn't tell there had just been a giant metal arm rock thing splitting him in half. He stood calmly before Haggar, because that's who she was... she was still very much Haggar. Pidge began a blink, checking with Green.

Black was still down. Everything was frozen. A few running Alteans defied gravity as they remained in the air, mid sprint. The remaining robeasts were disintegrating and the part of the pyramid that Voltron had removed above their bodies was being moved back in to place as if it was nothing.

Pidge finished her blink as a shadow blocked out the light of day; the pyramid piece floated over them, falling snugly back into place. The silence that followed was deafening. She didn't have anything to compare it to, but she imagined that if she were deaf, this is what life would be like. Complete and utterly still silence.

Haggar continued to grapple at the invisible hold on her throat until she finally stilled too. It was an unnatural stillness, the same as everything outside had been. Pidge noted that the wolf was gone, but the Lion stood beside Keith. He began speaking... whispering really. But after such silence, even the whispering seemed far too loud.

"You come into my sanctuary. You destroy my trials. You cage my Lion. You took what was not yours and gave it freely to those who didn't deserve it any more than you did. Then you have the audacity to destroy my Paladins in the very area that was once used to greet the Alteans of old. Who do you think you are witch?"

These words wouldn't make sense if it was just Keith... but...

_Lazarus 2.0_

_We_

Pidge understood then, that it was the wolf before them, not Keith.

"No one should ever presume that Time is something to be meddled with, least of all you. You've 10000 years that you can't get back. It's a surprise that Lotor didn't go insane earlier than he had. None of you were supposed to live this long. It is unnatural, you aren't built for it. You must understand that merging time will not create another reality of your own making, it will merge every reality surrounding our own including the first reality from which all realities spring. Lotor's death is as long over due as yours is, let him rest in peace Honerva."

"Still, you've come all this way. It would be rude not to see this through wouldn't it? You were looking for a decision that split realities. You were looking for a comet. You were looking for ore and a rift between realities. You found me instead." They cocked their head like the wolf. "Would you like to know why?" Keith's face lit up with mirth. The Lion disappeared and Haggar dropped to the floor on her back and Pidge could finally move. She bolted forward, prepared to tear out the witches heart, but she stumbled from her kneeling position falling flat on her face. All but Coran and Krolia suffered the same fate.

She was sore, and then the pins and needles of returning blood flow made it all worse. Pidge discreetly spat out the remaining blood in her mouth, then rolled on her back letting the flow of blood to and from her heart take it's course. She could deal with the burn in her thighs easy enough, but an entire body waking from paresthesia... that she could not deal with easily. Exhausted as she was, she still looked to her sides. Everyone had the same idea, clearly, to move to their back. Almost everyone was facing her direction with varying levels of relief and left over horror.

"I'm okay guys." She said, "Thanks to you?"

Pidge tilted her head backward to look at the wolf in Keith's body.

"A joint effort." The wolf walked over to Shiro, still face first on the floor. The wolf in Keith knelt beside him, whispering into his ear. Coran was sitting up and Krolia was slowly standing up and Haggar still lay in a position like a dropped doll.

"You're sure?" Allura asked, slowly standing up.

"Yeah." She smiled, hopefully far more reassuringly this time. Allura nodded and continued to stand up. She walking over to the other Ancient, misguided Altean.

"Don't touch her yet." The wolf said with a ruff, er.. rough undertone. "She has committed atrocities beyond your understanding, she's currently being tried by the Life Givers." Allura stood her ground and looked at the wolf with distrust, but didn't move closer.

"Who are you anyway?" Lance asked, still on his back.

"Don't worry Lance, Keith is safe, he's here, and he's recovering from having his brain and quintessence torn apart. Haggar had no plans to keep him alive, so she wasn't gentle in her search. Me though, Keith calls me Wolf. The White Lion and the Life Givers call me the Guardian. In the first universe you all took to calling me Kosmo. I grew to like it quite a lot over there. You may call me any of those."

"I vote Kosmo." Hunk said also still on his back, head tilted to the side to look at him.

"You were the one that came up with it, so I should think that would be your vote." Pidge snorted, Slav would be beside himself right now. She finally pushed herself up, facing the closed doors and turned around, still sitting. Hunk and Lance were both making their own efforts to do the same. Kosmo still knelt by Shiro… Quite possibly so shattered as to try and play possum.

"Is he…" Hunk started…

"Awake?" Lance finished for him.

"He fell and knocked himself out, but he will not wake. He is hidden within himself. Allura, you'll need to find him like you found Keith." Before Allura could respond, Coran spoke up,

"Is there anyway to clean away the blood in his arm?" Kosmo raised an eyebrow at the interruption.

"I already did." Pidge noticed, the red hue was in fact gone from the arm, back to the grey that it had been before. "He has a choice to make about it though, the arm. I wasn't expecting him to hide."

"What were you expecting?" Allura asked.

"A survivor. You don't get to be the Champion of the arena without being a survivor." Kosmo continued to look at Shiro perplexed. Pidge felt she had to point out the obvious flaw in that, given new data.

"But he wasn't a survivor, was he? If he's been through eight bodies?" The unnatural stillness seemed to quiver around them as too many sucked in a breath at the same time. Kosmo grimaced. 

"I suppose he couldn't be in the extraordinary circumstances Honerva subjected him to. But he does have an extraordinary will to live. The means have just too often been taken from him, by force, and by chance. I just..." He looked to Krolia, she had not moved from where she stood. "We saw so much of the man in the Quantum Abyss. I suppose we saw it through Keith's eyes, and..."

"Keith is extremely biased without any doubt." Krolia finished.

"Hmm... He is." Kosmo sighed almost wistfully.

"How long will it take Keith to heal?" Kosmo looked back to Krolia with a smile.

"Oh, he's currently healing at about 3000 times the rate he would have on his own. A couple of vargas maybe." Pidge quickly did the mental math and was appalled at how bad it was.

"Holy quiznack that's a long time!"

"Yes, and that's just the physical damage to his brain and his quintessence. I can't do anything to help along the psychological damage. That will take decaphoebs."

"What about Shiro?" Hunk asked.

"Like I said, he has a couple of choices to make."

"But is he really Shiro?" Lance asked hesitantly.

"In all but body, yes… But… He's..." Kosmo paused again, clearly thinking about something. Pidge couldn't be sure she really wanted to know this answer, but she listened to it  anyway. "He has eight boxes of the same puzzle, each with different puzzle piece counts, and each with their own missing pieces. They're all mixed together and none of it fits right. I can help if he wants… I hope that's what he wants. But I won't take that choice from him." Kosmo cocked his head to the side again.

"The Life Givers... they want Shiro to be awake for Honerva's final sentencing. Allura?"

"I gather this won't be like finding him in Black?

"Like I said, this will be more like how you found Keith."

"I found Keith through Shiro, I'm not sure I can find Shiro without him."

"You made your own link of sorts to Shiro when you transferred the rest of his quintessence from Black to his new Body. That said, this won't be nice for you. I'd suggest taking Lance with you. He has a stomach that can handle what you'll need to wade through to find him." Lance gulped.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we just wait for Keith to do it?" Kosmo growled. In a Kosmo like flash Keith's body wasn't next to Shiro, it was next to Lance. And Kosmo... who by all rights still had Keiths face, managed to look very much like a wolf.

"Did i not just say that the psychological damage he already has would last decaphoebs? His mind is as broken as Shiro's is, perhaps more so. I will not put him through more." Lance, subdued, nodded as he stood up. Hunk stood by his side.

"And what about us? Yeah our brain didn't just get shredded, but we just went through most of Keith's life! I can't..." The wolf backed down, finally noticing that Lance was truly having a difficult time with this.

"I managed to ignore most of Keith's memories... I can do it." She offered, not really keen on the idea, but more than willing to do so.

"This won't be just passively ignoring memories rolling by you. You'd have to actively search Katie." Pidge gulped and hung her head for a moment.

"I'll do it."

"No... no Pidge. Shiro... he wouldn't want you to see that." Lance stepped forward, chin up.

"Okay. What do we need to do?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note... If Honerva was pregnant when she was still in fact Honerva... then Lotor was over 10000 decaphoebs old too. Food for thought.


	10. Of Comets and Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance get's some wind in his sails. Kosmo answers some questions. Shiro has a panic attack. Keith comes out to say hello. Pidge watches them both unapologetically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay. Life is as life does and all that.
> 
> Please enjoy.

The wolf grinned at Lance, and nodded Keith’s head.

“Blue chose well, you know.”

“Huh? What does that...”

“You think you don’t have anything to bring to the team, no specialty. To be a jack of many trades and a master of none is to be as adaptable as the water Blue emulates. Sharpshooter aside, you are the counterbalance that fills in the gaps when gaps arise. Water erodes hard edges, polishes soft rocks, moves with the winds, and tames fires. You do the same, remember that as you search. You are not the rock that the water moves around, you are the water that moves around the rock. As long as you move forward, nothing can stand in your way Lance.”

Lance was suitably shocked by what Kosmo spouted off. And now that Pidge thought about it, the wolf wasn’t wrong. Lance took the edge off with humor… bad humor, but still humor. He always supported Shiro and Hunk as much as he could, and he may grate at their nerves, but both Keith, Pidge, and to some extent Allura had learned some form of patience from their interactions with him.

When Red needed a pilot, Lance did what Blue did. Blue took a new pilot and Lance shifted to a new Lion. Whenever there was a lull in battle, whenever no one had an idea, he just popped one out. Sometimes they used it without question, sometimes they ignored it, sometimes they jumped off the idea on to something else.

She’d never thought about it beyond his self proclaimed sharpshooting.

Lance was just Lance, Hunk was just Hunk, Keith was just Keith, Shiro was just Shiro, Allura was just Allura, and Coran was just Coran.

The wolf walked away back towards Shiro. Kosmo grabbed the back of his neck and hefted Shiro's body back up to nearly standing and gently settled him back on the floor legs out first now rather than kneeling. Kosmo sat behind Shiro's back keeping him upright.

"Allura, I need you on the left, Lance I need you on the right." Lance let out a deep breath.

"You got this buddy."

"Thanks Hunk"

Pidge supposed she should probably say something, but she was to busy being glad that it wasn't her. They walked over and Kosmo had Allura place her left hand on Shiro's left shoulder and Lance's right hand on Shiro's right shoulder. Kosmo placed Keith's respective hands over theirs.

"When you find him, when you bring him back, I can scrub the memories of what you see there. I won't be able to scrub the emotions, but I can get rid of the memories. After that I can do the same for what you saw of Keith's life. Some of you saw more than others, some of you might need it more than others. But you will remember the emotions you've had, just not what you saw to go with them. Keep that in mind as well."

"Alright." Both Allura and Lance said together. And after a moment both of them closed their eyes and they regained the stillness of everything outside. Frozen in time.

The wolf stood up.

"So can you do other stuff while they're finding him, does the brain bleach apply to us for Keith too? Cause you know Keith's privacy is important and I really don't want to…"

"Hunk." Hunk stalled mid sentence, "Sit down and hug your knees." He did so without a second thought. Coran did the same.

"Close your eyes, and sleep." Both Hunk and Coran then stilled as well.

Kosmo looked at Krolia then,

"We saw a great deal in the Abyss, but we didn't see that much. Does he want me to forget?"

"He would prefer it. But he understands if you want to keep it." Krolia made eye contact with Pidge.

"And me?" Pidge asked Kosmo turned to Pidge.

"You hardly saw anything. Only comprehend a few minutes at most. It's impressive really. I know what you saw, so he does as well. He doesn't mind you having that. It's completely up to you."

"No offense, but I'd rather not have a hole in my memory if I can avoid it." Kosmo smiled kindly and turned back to Krolia,

"I'd... I'd like to keep them, and let them fade naturally. Meditation and selective memory loss are well used abilities among the Blades." Kosmo smirked.

“If it’s the hit list you want to keep, you’ve no need to. I’ve got all of them lined up.” Krolia managed the vengeful look very well. And it made her look quiznacking scary.

“Not just for the hit list.” Kosmo raised a brow and nodded.

"Very well." Krolia nodded, face turning contemplative staring at the closed doors, then closed her eyes, sitting cross legged and stilling in a natural stillness unlike the others.

It left Pidge alone with the Wolf.

“You have questions?” And she did. She had a lot of questions. A lot of things that needed making sense of. Making sense of things would make things normal. She needed normal like nothing else… but she had a strange sense that to make sense of this, would be to let something go. She wasn’t sure what that would be, but like all things curiosity would be her guide and curiosity left no stone unturned.

“Will I regret asking them?”

“Have you ever regretting asking a question before?” No… she had never regretted it.

“You said she was looking for ore?”

“She was.”

“Then why did she find you?”

“Not all trans-dimensional comets are in comet form, though I did happen to resemble one.”

“Okay, why did she have to go through Keith’s memories to find one?”

“She didn’t have to. Krolia would have worked as well… but Keith is somewhat of a special case, and she has been holding a grudge against him for a three decaphoebs.”

“Three decaphoebs? We haven’t even been out here that long!”

“No, between the moment that the castle self destructed and the moment that the singularities collapsed, three decaphoebs passed.” Pidge blinked.

“So… everyone out there… We’ve been missing for three years.”

“Yes.” That… that took some...

“Matt.”

“Everyone.”

“Okay, given how close we were to the event horizon I guess we should be glad that it wasn’t worse.”

“Indeed.” Pidge could easily get lost in thought here, but she didn’t know how much time she had. She opted to file the three decaphoebs comment into her “to deal with later” folder on her mental desktop.

“She was holding a grudge against what?”

“Taking all of her perfect weapons off the board. Even the failed DNA sequenced models that she kept around for no other reason than to have the historical chronology of failures still viewable.”

“Right… So if you are a sentient trans dimensional comet as well as The Guardian of Oriande then do you know where you came from?”

“I do.”

“Will you tell me?” the wolf snorted.

“Wrong question.” Pidge had to think about that for a moment.

“Where do trans-dimensional comets come from?”

“Better. They come from tears in reality. When decisions are made that result in a great deal of alternate realities and an even greater number of alternate possibilities then tears in reality occur at the location and time that decision is made.”

“Krolia said she was going to make sure Keith and Shiro got out of the fight alive, then you landed… How many realities did that create?”

“Sixteen.”

“How many are required to create a comet of ore?”

“Nine.”

“Oh….” Pidge furrowed her brows. Not sure what to extrapolate from that, not sure where that line of questions would end.

“How many are required to form a sentient being.”

“Two.” Pidge blinked.

“There’s no correlation then?”

“None.” She wasn’t getting her answers… But what answer did she really want. What question could she ask that wouldn’t be the wrong question…

“Why were you reborn as a comet?” It was a wild dart flung at a misshapen board.

“There you go.” Pidge raised an eye brow.

“In the first universe, Honerva destroyed Oriande. I had no place to guard, I had no home. I instead followed Voltron to the end and the beginning of all things. I changed there, we all did. Time passed and my new stead fell into disrepair, and I had no true purpose then. I had nothing. I crawled my way back to the end and the beginning. I found new purpose. I became a Wolf. It was ironic really. A Lion turned Wolf.”

“You came back, before you actually left then?”

“I did. The mother of rebirth sent me to a time as those sixteen realities separated. I exist as Kosmo in that first universe, but there was only one universe that I was really needed in. It could have been any Wolf that came down because of Krolia’s decision, but it was me because of what occurred here today.”

“In that first universe...”

“What happened in that first universe does not concern you. It concerns no one outside of that universe.” He spit it out, like he was offended at it’s very existence. Given what he’d lost… Pidge couldn’t really blame him.

“Then what of this one. What will you be after this?”

“Wrong question.” Pidge had known that before she’d finished it.

“What happens after Keith is healed?”

“Better. But that is completely up to Keith. It’s his life to live as he pleases. Only he could answer that.” Pidge sighed, thinking…

“Will you still be his wolf?” The wolf smiled.

“If he’ll still have me."

“Will you choose to remember?”

“There you go, but I haven't that answer either, I've not decided yet.”

“Fair enough.”

“Time’s up.” Pidge grinned up at the wolf.

“Thank you.” He returned the grin, but with too much teeth and to little lip. It was more grimace than grin.

Hunk groaned followed briefly by Coran.

“I feel so much better. Thanks Kosmo.” The grimace remained.

“I must admit to the same. Thank you Guardian." Coran moved to sitting cross legged and Hunk moved his legs out in front of him. Clearly contemplative.

"So did you remove our memory index or did you really scrub it?" The Wolf’s grimace eased.

"I removed the index on the emotions in your quintessence but scrubbed the actual memories."

"Will you do that for Shiro?" He looked beyond Hunk into a distance beyond the walls that she couldn't see.

"If he chooses it… I'd be temporarily downloading the memories from his arm and his brain and running them through a scrubbing program. Then I'd... Well, think of running all of his files from his mind, his arm, and his quintessence through a metadata comparison program. Match up what I can between the arm and the brain and pull the empty spaces from his quintessence. Re-index every memory and emotion and make sure everything lines back up exactly."

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Pidge said, Hunk shuddered. The wolf turned back to her, brow raised.

"Now that I've answered your questions…" Pidge cringed, "How are you, really. No comparisons." She had to think about it for a second.

"Well… I executed an effective but bad program. Had a kernel error, did a reboot, and had several sections of code blasted out my middle and something foreign got stuck in it, extracted then I magically rebooted to an undetermined restore point. How do you think I'm doing?" Max tech talk, max sarcasm. The wolf and Coran looked mildly nonplussed. Hunk giggled.

"I have no idea what any of that means, but if we could all stop dying that would be great." Lance heaved, out of breath, and fell on his back. Allura looked lost, still holding Shiro up. Krolia opened her eyes as Shiro groaned, then moved to Lance’s side to hold Shiro up.

"Also, black bayard showed up and Keith cut off the arm from the side, then he passed out and Black saved them from both falling to their doom… Just in case anyone else was wondering.” Lance took another breath. “I'm ready to tap out now oh great Guardian of Oriande." Pidges eyebrows shot up as did Kosmo’s as he turned around.

"I am prepared as well." Allura added.

Kosmo moved then and crouched behind Shiro. Krolia moved towards Coran who had scooted closer. They almost formed a wide circle again with Shiro more in the middle.

"Remain seated and hug your knees." Lance groaned as he slowly lifted himself off his back. Allura and Lance stilled unnaturally once more. Kosmo moved to sit cross legged and lowered Shiro’s head down to his lap. Except the posture was wrong for the wolf, but Keith was still healing?

"So would that bayard comment make any sense if I still had those memories?" Hunk whispered.

"Yes Hunk, yes it would." Pidge answered, distracted by Keith’s posture.

"So you kept them?" Coran asked.

"There wasn't much to keep. Kosmo said Keith didn’t mind and I like my indexing to be as complete as possible."

"Don't worry that sentence makes perfect sense." Hunk told Coran and Krolia when they both shot her confused looks.

Shiro groaned again drawing everyone’s attention. Keith was combing through Shiro’s shock white hair with his fingers. It was definitely Keith, because Pidge seriously doubted that the wolf would look at Shiro like Keith was looking at him right now. Seeing him awake settled something in the back of her mind that she hadn't realized still needed settling. Shiro shuffled his legs a bit, pulling them in and up, placing his sabatons fully flat on the ground.

Shiro opened his eyes.

"Keith?" Shiro sounded hoarse. Dry. Keith placed his unoccupied hand on Shiro's throat, and he swallowed reflexively. He moved his hand from Shiro’s throat down to rest on his heart.

“Shiro.” Shiro lifted his human hand to cover Keith's hand on his chest.

"Good to have you back." Shiro smiled as Keith snorted indignantly.

"Good to be back." Keith replied.

“I wanted to be here when you woke up, but I can’t stay long.” Keith started, but it was clearly a bad start because it sent Shiro into a blind panic, trying to sit up, unsuccessfully, and trying to grab Keith with both arms.

“No! Don't. Don't go. Please don't.” Keith shushed him, bending over him further.

“Shhh. It’s okay, I'm not leaving. I promise I'm not leaving you. I'm here, I'm real.” Shiro gasped as Keith grabbed both of Shiro’s hands in his own. Shiro looked in horror at the Galran arm, as if realizing for the first time that it was back. His panic morphed trying to keep Keith near while trying to keep himself as far from him as he could. When Keith wouldn't let go Shiro just  tried to remove the Galran arm from Keith's grip. Keith let go of the arm but kept his human hand gripped tightly. The arm banged the floor with a loud clang, like the gong of a giant clock and Shiro looked like he was trying to get away from it by smashing himself even further into Keith's lap.

Keith moved his now open hand to the side of Shiro’s face to turn it away from the arm and back to him. Shiros eyes… grey eyes… held no sorrow in them now. Vulnerable panic sure, but no sorrow. 

“Shiro, look at me. Look at me. We aren't in Black. I'm right here, we're both alive. I’m not going anywhere. Breathe with me.” Keith maintained eye contact and walked them both through measured breathing. Keith held Shiros human hand tightly to his own chest and wiped his thumb over Shiros cheek, removing the tears falling over onto them with his other. 

They all remained silent as Shiro came back to himself. 

"I hurt you."

"I forgive you." Shiro choked on a sob, closing his eyes.

Pidge had been expecting a denial of the hurt... but leave it to Keith to know what Shiro needed more than what Keith would want to say.

"Keith?" Shiro opened his eyes again and Keith pulled Shiro up a bit, just enough for him to slide back and lift a knee for Shiro to rest on and bent over him, hiding his and Shiro’s face with his hair. Shiro's strained muscles went slack.

It didn’t take a genius to know what they were doing.

Everyone owed her several hours of manual data entry now… well, everyone except Matt, he hadn’t taken that bet. He may be her brother, but he was also a Holt… and Holt’s were not stupid. Not that anyone who had taken the bet was stupid... just... less well informed.

Shiro raised his Galran arm, probably not thinking about it at the moment and brushed Keith’s hair back, clearly not realizing, or caring, that the rest of them were in the room. He wrapped his arm around Keith, holding him in place.

Katie would look away then… but she hadn’t really been Katie in a long time, and Pidge… Pidge was a glutton for punishment. She’d feel bad about it except Krolia was watching too.

They were nearly silent, but both of them were undeniably desperate. Teeth and lips and tongues and noses and ragged breathing. It wasn’t gentle, it was rough, and it was needy. It should have been gross to watch, but it was actually rather reassuring... safe even.

When Pidge finally felt the heat in her cheeks after a minute or two she turned away to see Hunk and Coran staring at her with brows raised. She smiled and shrugged. If they had remembered the shit at the cloning facility they’d have been watching too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note if Hunk's indexing comment confused you. he was just asking if it was still there and locked away or if the memories were actually gone.


	11. Humpty Dumpty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardian sorts out Shiro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between life and then not being able to figure out how to end this... this chapter has taken a bit.

"Mis Dioses. I got brain bleach just to wake up and need more." The two Black Paladins froze at the exclamation and quickly came apart blushing, Keith leaned backward and Shiro tried leaning forward on his own, only to fall back on Keith's knee. Allura smiled at then moved to stand over Haggar once more, Lance quickly moved to stand by her side.

"Sorry." Keith looked to Lance briefly before he looked back to Shiro. Shiro didn't even bother saying anything, he just looked over and shrugged his shoulders with a small smile.

"Keith, you've recovered then?" Allura asked hopeful.

"No. I still need to go back under for a bit, I just wanted to be awake when Shiro woke up. Less jarring, considering what the Guardian is going to offer you." Shiro managed then to lean up and hold his own weight, sitting up properly but still maintaining close contact with Keith.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean please trust my dog. My dog who happens to be the Guardian. The Guardian who is currently healing me as we speak who is currently uh… I'm… He'll explain it better and is currently yelling at me." Keith leaned forward and place his hand on Shiro’s shoulder like nothing had changed.

"Just trust him." The wolf didn't wait for acknowledgment and once again it became very evident just how different Keiths and the Wolfs posture was.

"Keith?" Shiro furrowed his brow, likely noticing the same.

"The Guardian of Oriande actually. Keith is still healing, and will be for another varga or so. If he hadn't been so insistent, I'd have just kept him under until he was fully healed." Shiro looked at the Guardian with a mildly murderous glare.

"Down boy." The Wolf snorted after he said it… Lance and Hunk snorted too. It was a near thing for Pidge as well. Krolia interrupted them before Shiro had the chance to do anything else.

"He's not just the Guardian, he's the wolf we spent the last two years with and I'd trust him with my life as would Keith… Though I am sure we would all love to hear about how the Guardian turned into a Wolf." That got Shiro’s attention, his glare relaxed minutely.

"A story for a later time, right now we need to focus on you Shiro. You have a choice to make." Shiro’s eyes narrowed.

"You can remain as you are. I can regrow your arm, but your memories held within would be lost, or you can keep the arm and let me in to your mind and let me fit all of you back together.” Shiro blanched,

“Why would you offer that to me? Why would you make me choose? I'd prefer no arm at all over this... this thing.”

“Because it is a part of you. I can not fit all of your fractured pieces together while simultaneously breaking off a couple of pieces. You would be at even more of a disadvantage than if you choose to go with the regrown arm and a fairly muddled memory slate.”

“You wouldn't be breaking any pieces of off. Keith already removed it because it was going to kill him! I want to be whole, I want to be all of who I have been, but I don’t want this arm!” The wolf looked at him kindly… patiently.

“Shiro, I’ve purged Keith’s blood from it on the molecular level. The only functioning programming is the programming that allows it to function as an arm. There’s no more remote accessibility. It isn’t a weapon any more. Go ahead, try it.” Shiro scrambled up to stand, holding his right arm out in front of him, clearly concentrating. It didn’t take long for more tears to start falling.

"How?" Shiro asked incredulously.

"The how isn't important. I put Katie back in one piece. I put Keith back in one piece and I am healing his brain and his quintessence as we speak. Let me do the same for you."

Pidge nodded her head when Shiro looked at her, mouth gaping a bit.

"So that was real, you…"

"I was quiznacking surprised too. Got to green, broke the Wolf out then blacked out. Saw Voltron’s consciousness, saw Keith, saw his Wolf, saw the Lions. Woke up already half dead until I wasn’t." Pidge shrugged as Hunk and Coran each side hugged her. Lance looked at her, something clearly on his mind.

"Could get into Voltron’s consciousness, resurrected Keith, healed Pidge…”

“Froze time out there, put the Pyramid back together in here...” Hunk added

“Not to mention just dropped Haggar like a drunken Yellmore." Coran interjected

“That too… Seems like pretty tight credentials if you ask me.” Lance finished.

Shiro leaned away from the Wolf, studying him for a few ticks.

"You already know my answer, don't you?"

"You can take seven Vargas to come up with your answer or you can go with your gut, which is where you'll end up anyway." Shiro hesitated, rightfully so… Because... well.

"All the king’s horses and all the king’s men...”

“Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but I can."

“Okay.” Shiro nodded, “Do it.” The wolf smiled and gestured for Shiro to sit back down. Kosmo sat behind him, placed one hand over Shiro’s forehead and the other over his heart. Then, almost as an after thought he spoke.

"This will only take a dobash from your perspective, but it will be the equivalent of up to several quintents for both of us mentally."

With that they fell into the unnatural stillness that Pidge had come to associate with the wolf. She fell back into Green, just for a moment or two. The link was now rooted not just mentally, but with quintessence as well... and it was warm. So very warm.

Pidge tried staying there but opened her eyes... to see if she could be present but still within the warm blanket of quintessence shared. She managed for a couple of seconds before a loud crack of what sounded like thunder rumbled through the room. Then another crack sounded and Pidge covered her ears, the others did so as well. Then another crack, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another.

Shiro lurched up gasping for breath as he had when Allura had pulled him out of the Black Lion. He stood up of his own volition, backing away from all of them and stumbling while doing so. Shaking he turned around and fell back on his knees dry heaving. Krolia, the closest to him stepped over to him without any hesitation.

It made Pidge think of her own mother and how she'd scratch her back when she was sick. How she'd hold her close when she was crying. It reminded Pidge of how much she missed her; of how much she missed earth.

It took Shiro a few dobashes to settle down and stand back up. He turned to face all of them.

The shattered man was gone. A determined man left in his wake.

"Thank you."

"Live well and we'll call it even."

The Wolf stood up to join everyone else and spoke.

"Life Givers! It is time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go.


	12. The End to An End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haggar gets her due. The paladins and company finally get their hard fought group hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last...

The room around them slid from sight into a galaxy of stars; void and pinpricks of light. No up, no down, no direction... but it wasn’t like being in zero gravity, it wasn’t like being in space. It was like being lost underwater, but everyone stood on the same base plane.

It reminded Pidge of the shared consciousness within Voltron as they all stood in a circle around two Honervas, one distinctly looking more like Haggar. Oddly enough Keith and his wolf were separated here, Pidge briefly wondered if there would have been eight Shiros instead of one here had he opted for the other choice, or if this was something else entirely.

Honerva spoke.

"Children of the Lions. Fate has led you here to bear witness to the end of an end. Her crimes have been reviewed, her punishment decided. Painless oblivion beside the son she so desperately wanted to mother.

"Haggar, I wish this was me, but my punishment is an eternity of watching, yet unable to partake. Oblivion is a mercy."

The space faded back into the land of the living with Haggar suspended in the air before them once more. She was there one moment, and the next she was dust; blinking out of existence before she had the chance to fall.

The white Lion stood before them and roared. The Lions of Voltron roared in reply.

"What the quiznack was that!?" Lance exclaimed. Pidge was very much inclined to agree with his incredulity. Why had Haggar been split in two, was she really gone?

"Is it over?" Allura asked.

"Nearly. She is no more, and never will be again, in the timeline anyway." The wolf answered... "hmm... ah. I'll freeze you all, I'll wake you when Keith is ready."

None of them had a chance to reply. If there had been time, Pidge was sure she would have pitched a fit because she had more questions. She had so many questions. The others probably had the same questions she had, but one moment they were watching Haggar disappear from existence and the next moment there was a space wolf licking Keith awake.

Pidge couldn't help it. She laughed… They all laughed as Keith spluttered awake. She was mad at the Guardian for the slight of hand, but there was very little she could do to get any solid answers out of him… for the time being anyway.

Shiro walked over to Keith, extending his flesh hand out for Keith to grab. He took it and Shiro pulled him up off the floor back into very close quarters. They didn't embrace at first, they just looked eye to eye.

"Keith?" It sounded almost like a plea. Keith nodded.

"Shiro?" An answer and a plea all it's own. Shiro leaned down as Keith pulled himself even closer to him. It wasn't anything like earlier. This was just a brush of lips, simple... reassuring. Katie let them have a few moments before she coughed, mildly surprised that Hunk hadn't beaten her to the punch. It took them a few more moments before they detached and looked at her, soft smiles reaching both of their eyes.

"Can we all hug properly now?"

The two Black Paladins broke apart a little further and nodded which was all the permission that she needed before she once more jumped into the fray, all of the others behind her and around her and Keith and Shiro.

Pidge wasn't sure how long they were like that but they disbanded when Kosmo barked.

They had been gone 3 decaphoebs… She needed to tell them that, and she would. They would plan, and given how they had just traveled in Voltron, there was a good chance that year and a half to earth might end up being be a matter of minutes. But for now, with Romelle running through the door, they had some Alteans to see to.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. I finally finished it, clocking in at just over 20000 words. This is the longest thing I've ever written to completion. I enjoyed finally getting this thing out of my head and on to virtual paper. I hope y'all enjoyed reading it too.


End file.
